Lycan's Prey by Jessica Hall

Chapter 137

“Aubrey? What are you doing in here?” Her voice is soft, but | can hear the tension beneath it as her bottom lip trembles, choking on emotion.

“I… I was just looking,” I stammer, unable to meet her gaze, but now I am curious. “Mom, why did you stop talking to Grandma?”

A heavy silence falls between us. I finally look up, and the sadness etched on her face makes my heart clench.

“There’s a lot you don’t know, sweetheart,” she says, sinking onto the edge of the bed.

“What do you mean?” I ask, my mind racing. “What happened?”

As I struggle to remember, a memory surfaces – bright and vivid. “We were at Grandma’s house. Me and Brielle, on our

bikes…”

Mom nods, her eyes glistening. “You were eleven.”

The scene unfolds in my mind like a forgotten photograph coming into focus. There we are, me and my sister, our smiles as wide as the summer sky above Granny’s house. We sat astride our bikes, hers was bubblegum pink, mine cobalt blue, both gleaming beneath the sun. That same bike became the instrument of unspeakable loss on the day she never came home.

I swallow hard, fighting back the tears that threaten to spill. “I

||| 0 <

Chapter 137

we were

okay,

of sorrow washes over me, so fierce it threatens to pull me under. The memory of that day is a wound that

so clearly now; Grandma was on the porch, watching us.

flower–print dress flutters in the breeze, her hand shading her eyes as she watches us. Brielle’s pigtails

by a sickening bang. I spin around, seeing Grandma running towards us, her face contorted in horror. But

at first. People were running out of their houses, and then… oh

grotesquely around her bike. Her golden hair fanned

my knees and grasping her hand. “Can you hear me?”

hurts.” she wails. “Why can’t I move?” she

Chapter 137

1208 Vouchers

blood covers the ground, and her eyes flutter

she

keep my voice steady

her way?” she whispers, her words gurgling as blood spills from her lips. I glance around nervously. “You’re like Humpty Dumpty, remember? We’ll put you back together again.

air. “Someone